A woman in a burka was removed from a Florida county commission meeting Tuesday after playing a recording of the Islamic call to prayer during public comments. The disruption came as residents debated the possible expansion of a local mosque, with some also criticizing the language used in zoning documents and meeting materials.
The episode unfolded before the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners as residents addressed the panel. A woman dressed in black from head to toe, with only her left eye visible, stepped to the podium and played the recording instead of delivering spoken remarks.
Officials did not immediately determine whether the act was intended as a protest, a prank or something else.
The call to prayer continued for almost a minute before Board Chairman Dave Eggers intervened. He explained that county rules require people who speak during public comment to make verbal statements rather than play prerecorded material.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to stop … stop the music, stop the tape,” Eggers said.
The woman did not stop the recording, prompting a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputy to walk to the podium. The deputy escorted her from the meeting room and out of the building.
Her removal quickly heightened tensions in the chamber. Several people in the audience shouted at Eggers and challenged his decision.
“Please. Just please exercise some decorum and kindness of your own,” Eggers told the crowd. “We’re all people living together here.”
The chairman then reiterated the commission’s policy on recordings during public comment.
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“We don’t allow taped things,” he said. “You can record the meeting, but we don’t allow taped activity like that. We ask you to come here and make comments, and that was not a comment. That’s why she was asked to step out.”
The interruption occurred during a broader debate over the board’s Oct. 13 decision to approve a land-use amendment for the proposed expansion of Masjid Al Rahman. The 4-3 vote followed presentations and documents that described the mosque as a “community assembly facility.”
The amendment changed the property’s designation from residential rural to public and semi-public. That change would allow the owner to replace the existing building with a new structure approximately 1,000 square feet larger.
At Tuesday’s meeting, several residents spoke against the project. Some based their objections on concerns about women’s rights and the treatment of women in predominantly Muslim countries.
“It is about the big picture and the long term,” one woman told commissioners. “By allowing this mosque to expand in our area, you are participating in the expansion of a totalitarian ideology which is fundamentally opposed to Western American values. Expansion of the ideology of Islam is not good for women’s rights.”
Another resident defended the mosque’s plans, saying the changes were primarily intended to make the building better reflect its religious purpose. “They want to turn it to face Mecca, and they want it to look a little more like a mosque instead of a house,” she said. “We have no problems with them. We’ve been their neighbors for many years.”
Commissioner Vince Nowicki also questioned why county materials did not identify the project more plainly as a mosque.
“Residents read these materials to understand what is being proposed near them, and they should get the same plain description in every case, no matter the applicant,” Nowicki wrote in an email to County Administrator Barry Burton, according to Florida Politics.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said the woman left the property without further incident. Authorities confirmed that she will not face criminal charges.